I allocated Dad’s drawings to a capital account. For the non-accountants that means classifying his costs as paying for something of value (like inventory) or as a loan (which can be called in).

Once sorted and simplified, the number comes out to a $306K economic benefit over the last 12 months.

This morning he screamed on the phone that one of his credit cards was declined. Something inside me snapped and I told him to come to the office we need to talk.

Everything started ok. Actually it was going better than I expected. He challenged my calculations and allocations. I allowed that but said he’d have plenty of time to double check and correct any errors, but if my figures were right, he’d gotten a $300K benefit when our deal called for $125K. We had a problem and it needed immediate acion. He asked if I’d worked out my economic benefit($72K for the record). He just couldn’t see that the numbers came to $306K and if they did it wasn’t him.

Then I mentioned I’d given copies of the reports to his brother (and business partner). He lost it! Until then it was tense but civil (by his standards). He demanded I resign – I offered to if he paid out my company credit card expenses, plus $100K (my pay cut to take on this turnaround) and pays me a salary until that’s settled. He disrespectfully declined.

The only other option that I saw was to turn off the tap – cut him off totally. There wasn’t a lot of win-win focus at this point.

I believe that his drain on the company is the single greatest threat we face. I can’t see how I can deal with it and maintain a good relationship with my father if he cannot acknowledge reality.